Part 1 of this conversation with singer GREG GRAFFIN and guitarist BRETT GUREWITZ, which took place at Mr. Brett's West Beach Recording Studio in Hollywood, California on January 2, 1990, appeared in the last issue. The band had just that week released their 4th LP No Control (last issue's #2 pick), and Brett was graciously taking a break from working, producing a hardcore band at the studio, to sit for this interview. Since then, the band has completed work on a 5th LP that's due any day now; one song from it, "Operation Rescue," a slap at fanatical anti-abortionists, has already been released on the City of L.A. comp. I have heard half of the album and it sounds every bit as good as the last 2 LPs. The other thing that happened is the breakup of the CIRCLE JERKS, which means guitarist GREG HETSON is solely a member of Bad R. now.

          For a history of the band, and a more general introduction to this conversation, see the intro to this interview last issue. As I said at the time, this chat produced more laughter than any I've been involved in. Though they make startling music, their attitude is filled with absurdity since they see the band as a part time hobby that has actually consumed a great deal of their time and energy.

          Conversation dropped off with us still discussing the infamous disowned 2nd LP Into the Unknown from 1983, a subject the band has rarely discussed because most interviewers dislike the record. I always liked it though, so I pressed them on it a great deal.

JR: Back to the Known came out two years later. Was that some sort of sudden realization that you'd better get back to the hardcore sound or there'd be trouble?

GREG: That was a joke. It was almost such an obvious joke it almost didn't need to be said. We could have put it out with a blank black cover like Spinal Tap. And people could have just interpreted the title. "Here they are, they're back."

BRETT: I wasn't in the group at the time.

GREG: Greg Hetson was the only guitarist then, he made up that title as a joke. He and I decided, why don't we just get back to what we do best. Back to the known. No! Now that I think about it, Greg called it "Back From The Unknown." (all laugh) I shortened it.

JR: I like this title better!

GREG: Back from the Unknown. Ha ha.

JR: At a theater near you, rated R for ridiculous. Umm, do you remember the Maximum Rock 'n' Roll review of Into The Unknown?

BRETT: No, what did it say?

JR: They hated it so much they were opening the window and throwing it out "into the unknown."

GREG: That's pretty good! That's great! (laughs) I wasn't up on any of the literature, I didn't follow it at the time. I wish I did, that would be a real collector's item. A folio with all the bad reviews!

JR: Write TIM YOHANNEN for that one. I'm sure he has it on file. I'm sure he likes your new stuff a lot more!

BRETT: He loves our new stuff.

JR: No doubt. Why was side 2 of Back to The Known blank, with no music?

BRETT: It was an EP of 5 songs, we thought it would be fun, instead of putting 2 songs on one side and three on the other, to put them all on one side. That way you don't have to flip it over.

GREG: It was foresight by the executives at Epitaph Records (the band's own label) 'cause they knew that CDs were the thing to come, so they'd first come out with records that were one side only.

JR: Those coked out executives in suits.

BRETT: Hey, how'd you hear about that?

JR: Did you consider recording a few more songs and making an LP of it?

GREG: No. We were even more part time back then than we are now.

JR: You were going to college in Wisconsin at the time, weren't you?

GREG: I'd just come back from Wisconsin then. That's when we started playing around here again. You know, there was a little demand to see Bad Religion play the old stuff. But now to me, it's almost like full time. The band takes up an inordinate amount of time.

JR: Is that why there was three years between Back to The Known and Suffer?

GREG: Also because it was just me and Greg Hetson and a few others. None of the original members were re-involved just then. So there wasn't a drive, they were all doing their own thing. When you have five members who are all into the band, it makes it easier to be productive. But then there was two members who were sort of interested as a side thing.

JR: How did you get JAY and Brett and Pete back?

GREG: First, because we lost their replacements! They had to go somewhere. So we thought, what should we do? And we said, "Let's call Jay," and he said "Yeah I'll play." Jay came back and was absolutely amazed by the response at Fenders Ballroom (in Long Beach). He was on seventh heaven with all these people cheering. By that time, although we were still opening up for other bands, there were significantly larger crowds, and more to the point, the punk rockers were actually cheering! Which is unheard of.

JR: (To Brett) Since you have to get back to the session you're producing, I might as well ask the two of you about the lyrics, since you both write half of them. I got that wrong in my review of Suffer. I just assumed Greg had written them all.

GREG: "Greg's Orwellian lyrics" I think you said.

JR: I did? I never remember my reviews that clearly.

BRETT: A lot of people think Greg writes them all. It's one of the problems of being the guitarist.

GREG: People say, "How can you write something for someone else to sing?" But how can you write something for other people to play?

JR: Everyone feels differently about that. How long does it take you to write those lyrics, frankly?

BRETT: It took me a week to write my new one. I get pissed and I go nuts.

GREG: It's a piece of homework for me. I sit down and I usually have a song out within an hour.

JR: Whereas I spend an hour looking up all the words in your lyrics! No one I know uses words luke "obsequious" when I speak to them!

BRETT: I'd like to, 'cause I think the English language could be a lot more expressive, but if you do people think you're being pedantic, and a dick. (laughs)

GREG: That was rehearsed!

BRETT: Some of my favorite authors

Only 1/3 of the interview is displayed here. The rest of the interview can be found in The Big Takeover #29 (1990), which is available as a back issue.